Armature type electrical generators for self powered cell phones

ABSTRACT

Self powered cell phones are operated with a rotatable crank shaft, the rotary motion of which is translated by cam or slotted slider crank-driven gear trains into pivoting motions of an internal armature, in reciprocal alternating opposite directions, whereby one or more conductive wire coils, supported by the armature, are caused to intersect the magnetic flux of one or more permanent magnets disposed within the cell phones, thereby generating electrical voltage and current for operating, charging or recharging the cell phone batteries. Recharging mechanisms are provided which can be manually or flywheel operated to impart the pivotal motions of the armature and supply the current generated therein directly to the cell phone batteries.

CROSS REFERENCE

This is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/191,890 filed Jul. 28, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. ______ issued ______, the priority of which is claimed and the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to armature type electrical generators that are useful as power sources for self powered cell phones. That is to say, such generators can be installed within the housing of cell phones to serve as internal sources of electrical power that will operate the cell phones, thus avoiding the need for external electrical power either to operate or recharge such phones.

2. Disadvantages in Prior Practice

Relevant technology to the present invention is described in earlier filed copending applications, Ser. Nos. 11/120,255, entitled SELF POWERED CELL PHONES, and 11/133,093, entitled AUTOMATED MOTION PROVIDER FOR SELF POWERED CELL PHONES, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Generally, those applications teach technologies that are based on forming hollow tracks or raceways of various shapes and wrapping them with conductive wire coils. Sealed within the raceways are permanently magnetic members having shapes complementary to the raceway cross sections, which allows the members to traverse through the raceways when such assemblies are put into physical motion. As a result, magnetic flux passes through the wire coils to electromagnetically generate electrical voltage and current in the wire coils. Such assemblies can be installed within cell phone housings to function as internally generated electrical power for operating the cell phone circuits and/or recharging the phone's batteries.

These electrical generators rely upon motion of the magnetic components, shaped like balls, cylinders or bars, through the hollow raceways that are attached in fixed positions within the cell phone housings. Therefore, the manufacturing tolerances of such components have to be closely controlled to optimize the physical motion of the magnetic members relative to the immobile tracks or raceways. Also, fabrication of the raceways and sealing the magnetic members within them is relatively costly. Moreover, if any malfunction develops within the sealed raceway, it has to be either broken open for repair or discarded and replaced by a new assembly of the components, including the wire coils, thus causing further cost and complexity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention avoids the above discussed disadvantages of the earlier described technology because, instead of using sealed raceways with moving magnetic members within them, the invention relies upon stationary magnetic circuits fixed within cell phones which interact with oscillating electrical armatures to generate internal electrical power that can be readily adapted for operating and recharging cell phones. In addition, the present invention includes a variety of new mechanical drive systems for imparting optimum motion to the electrical armatures, which will quickly restore a full electrical charge in cell phone batteries within a relatively short time period. Finally, by fabricating the armatures in the form of freely swinging pendulums, recharging electrical current is nearly continuously generated in the phone when carried on the body of a user, thus minimizing or avoiding the need for a separate recharging of depleted batteries.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details of the invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings and description, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view through the depth of a cell phone oriented vertically with its base at the bottom, its height at the top, and its display screen and operating buttons facing leftward.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view through the cell phone's width taken along the plane 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a mechanical drive system for imparting rocking motion to an electrical armature.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the elements in FIG. 3 system rotated 90° to the left.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view, similar to FIG. 3, illustrating an alternative system for rocking the electrical armature.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view, similar to FIG. 4, of the FIG. 5 system.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a drive mechanism for the recharging mechanical drive system for the cell phone.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view, similar to FIG. 7, illustrating an alternative rapid recharging mechanism that bypasses the mechanical drive system and the armature recharger.

In the ensuing description, the same or similar components in the various figures will be marked with the same reference numerals without repetition of the initial detailed identification of each component.

Referring to FIG. 1, this cross section through the depth of a cell phone includes an outer housing 10, operating buttons 12, and a display screen 14. Also included are dual magnetic circuits composed of disc shaped permanent button magnets 16, 18, disposed within U-shaped pole pieces 20, 22 made of iron or other paramagnetic material. These magnetic circuits provide air gaps 24, 26 which are bridged by magnetic fluxes conducted by the pole pieces 20, 22 and having the polarities of the flat opposite surfaces of the button magnets 16, 18. The magnetic circuits are supported in a fixed position within the interior of housing 10.

An armature 28 is provided for interaction with the magnetic circuits to enable generation of electric current. The armature has a central shaft 30 that extends into the cavity of a recess 32 formed in the back wall of housing 10. The extension is supported by a bearing which allows the armature to freely rotate and oscillate in opposite swinging motions. The extended end of shaft 28 has one or more flats on its surface for functionality as the male component of a coupling, as later explained below.

The opposite ends of armature 28 are disc shaped with diameters generally similar to those of the button magnets 16, 18. Mounted on each of the armature's ends are coils of conductive wire or other conductive material 34, 36 that can pass through the magnetic flux of the magnetic circuits as the central shaft pivots and induces the armature to oscillate or rock in swinging pendulum-like motions relative to the cell phone casing. For this purpose, the lower end of armature 28 in FIG. 2 includes a weight 38 placed at its center which creates an imbalance that causes the armature to orient itself in a vertical position, like an undisturbed pendulum. To facilitate illustration and explanation, the armature in FIG. 2 has been angularly displaced from its vertical rest position to enable viewing the coils and other components that participate in generating electric current.

Each of the wire coils 34, 36 ends in a pair of output terminals 40, 42 to which are connected coiled leads that can flex and accommodate swinging motions of the armature 28. These leads deliver, in parallel, the electric current generated in each coil 34, 36 to connecting leads 44, 46 that conduct the electric currents to input terminals 48, 50 of a battery pack 52. The battery pack 52 contains rechargeable batteries, e.g., lithium ion or nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium types, or capacitors that can be recharged by the electric currents delivered by conductors 44, 46.

The construction and functionality of the device illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be comprehensible to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. The pendulum-like armature 28 will hang in a vertical position with its ends and wire coils disposed in the air gaps 24, 26 of the magnetic circuits when the cell phone is standing on its base. When the armature moves out of such alignment due to relative motion between its ends and the magnetic pole pieces 16, 18, electrical voltage and current will be generated in the wire coils 34, 36 by the Faraday effect. Accordingly, when a user walks, runs, rides a bicycle, exercises or otherwise moves with a cell phone carried in a holster or pocket on his or her body, containing the device of FIG. 2, recharging of the cell phone batteries will repeatedly occur during the course of such activity. Depending on the frequency and length of the recharging events, a cell phone can be kept operable for communications throughout an entire day, without need for a separate recharging cycle. However, if recharging becomes necessary, it can be carried out by manually moving the cell phone in reciprocal rocking motions which will cause the magnetic flux in the air gaps 24, 26 to periodically intersect the coils 34, 36 of the relatively stationary armature 28, thus generating recharging electric current, as previously described.

The structure of the armature can be, and preferably is, a multi-layered printed circuit board (PCB) having the coils 34, 36 etched and printed thereon. For example, if a single layer of the armature contains a total of 250 turns of coil formed by the dual coils 34, 36, a four-layered PCB will provide 1,000 turns of coil for optimum generation of electric recharging currents that will maintain, reasonably charged present day cell phones which, at full charge, are rated generally to provide 900-milliamp hours of power at approximately 3.6 volts.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, they portray the functional components of a rapid recharging mechanical drive system for imparting rocking motion to the armature 28 of the cell phone illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 for generation of electrical current, as previously explained. In particular, crank handle 54 is pivotally linked to a crank 56 which is attached to a earn input shaft 58. The cam input shaft 58 is attached to one end of the major axis of an oval shaped cam 60.

A cam follower rod 62 is kept in contact with cam 60 by coil spring 64, looped at the right end around pin 68 extended outwardly from the central axis of follower rod 62 and connected at its other end to a stationary post (not shown).

Cam follower rod 62 is attached to input gear 70 which is linked to a centrally positioned pivotable shaft 72. Input gear 70 meshes with a transmission gear 74 which is affixed to transmission gear 76. Transmission gear 76 meshes with output gear 78 which includes a central shaft 80 having one or more internal flats at its free end which match and mate with corresponding exterior flats of armature 28's shaft extended end 30 into the recess 32 (FIG. 1). Thus, when end 80 of the drive system is coupled to the extended end 30 of armature shaft 28, the motion generated by rotating crank handle 54 and crank 56 is transmitted through this coupling to the armature 28.

In particular, rotation of the crank 56 will cause cam 60 to rotate eccentrically about the axis of cam input shaft 58. As a result, cam 60 will alternately oscillate cam follower 62 and input gear 70 about the axis of shaft 72 in reciprocal opposite rocking motions which will be transmitted to transmission gear 76 and output gear 78. The coupling formed by ends 30 and 80 will, in turn, transmit corresponding rocking motions to armature 28, thus initiating and carrying out current generation for as long as the crank 56 is maintained in rotation.

Preferably, the gear ratio between input gear 70 and transmission gear 76 is 5:1, and the ratio between transmission gear 76 and output gear 78 is 2:1. Therefore, the total mechanical advantage is 10:1, whereby for every half revolution of cam 60 in FIGS. 3, 4, there will be a 14 degree swing of the cam follower 62 and a 140 degree rotation of output gear 78. This accomplishes two important benefits. First, the recharging process is accelerated, so that all other factors being equal, the time of rotation of crank 56 to develop a full charge in the batteries is reduced. Secondly, the oscillations provided to armature 28 will be regular and symmetrical, thus optimizing smoothing of the electrical currents generated during the recharging process.

In this connection, as the armature 28 oscillates in opposite directions, the polarity of the electric current will fluctuate between positive and negative. Therefore, in order to capture and convert the negative cycles to positive, a full wave diode rectifier, disclosed in Ser. No. 11/120,255, may be included in the leads 44, 46 (FIG. 1), thus creating a DC current supplied to the input terminals of battery pack 52. The battery pack may contain one or more batteries or capacitors and rectifier circuitry.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, they portray an alternative rapid recharger embodiment which is similar to the previous embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, the principal difference being substitution of a slider-crank mechanism in the alternative embodiment for the cam and cam follower arrangement of the previous embodiment.

In particular, crank 56 and crank handle 54 are connected to a rotatable axle 80 and wheel 82. On the opposite side, wheel 82 is attached to a pin 84 disposed in the slot 86 of a pivotable track 88 and radially spaced from the center of wheel 82.

Track 88 is attached to input gear 70, which, in turn, meshes with the transmission gear 74 which is affixed to transmission gear 76, and the latter meshes with output gear 78. The central shaft of the latter couples through its female end 80 with the male end of extended armature shaft 30, by use of complementary mating flats, as previously described in the discussion of FIGS. 3 and 4. The weight 38 of the previous embodiment is omitted in FIG. 4, since other forms of weights can be used in other locations to form a pendulum functionality in armature 28.

To operate the FIGS. 5 and 6 embodiment, a user rotates crank 56 and crank handle 54. As pin 84 travels through slot 86 of rack 88, input gear 70 is caused to pivot in alternate arcs of opposite directions, thus providing a rocking motion to the armature 28 by the same interactions of the remaining common parts, as previously described for the FIGS. 3 and 4 embodiment. The advantages of the alternative embodiment depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6 include elimination of greater rubbing friction encountered with the cam and cam follower of the previous embodiment. Also, the higher friction and stress inherent in the eccentric rotation of the cam against the cam follower is avoided. The gear ratios in the alternative embodiment are preferred to be the same as those described for the previous embodiment, in order to achieve similar advantage in the alternate design.

Referring to FIG. 7, this portrays a mechanism which is useful for avoiding continuous manual cranking of the drive systems described in connection with FIGS. 1-4. It will be evident to those skilled in the art that when cranking of the previous embodiments ceases, so will the oscillations of the armature 28 and current generation terminate. These stop and go manifestations are overcome by the device illustrated in FIG. 7.

In particular, crank 56 and crank handle 54 are connected to rotatable input shaft 90. Shaft 90 is connected to a unidirectional clutch 92 which engages when shaft 90 is rotated in one direction, e.g. clockwise, and disengages when the cranking ceases.

The output shaft 94 from clutch 92 connects to a flywheel 96. An output shaft 98 of the flywheel connects either to the cam input shaft 58 of FIGS. 1 and 2, or to the axle 80 of wheel 82 in FIGS. 3 and 4. Thus, a user can rotate crank 56 and crank handle 54 to initiate engagement of clutch 92 which couples together the input and output shafts 90, 94, thus initiating rotation of the flywheel 96. After the flywheel is cranked up to its desired angular rotational, speed, cranking can stop and the clutch 92 can be disengaged and enable the flywheel to run freely until its free wheeling capability runs down. During this period, there will be continuous oscillation of armature 26 in either of the drive systems of FIGS. 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. The user thereafter can repeat cranking up the flywheel into free wheeling operation for as many times as may be needed to restore either a partial or full recharge of the cell phone batteries.

Referring to FIG. 8, it portrays yet another alternative for supplying operating or recharging current to cell phones. In this embodiment, crank 56 and crank handle 54 operate through the unidirectional clutch 92, its input and output shafts 90, 94 and flywheel 96 in the same way as described in connection with FIG. 7. However, included also in the container or housing for the latter three components is an electrical generator 98. The generator 98 supplies electric current directly to the cell phone battery pack in leads 44 and 46 and can be used to recharge the battery instead of the mechanisms shown in FIGS. 3-7. The assembly in FIG. 8 provides the components necessary to rapidly recharge cell phones in remote regions of the planet where external sources of electricity are unavailable. In this embodiment, leads 99, 100 can be fabricated in the form of a thin coaxial cable with male prong ends shaped to enter complementary female sockets connected to leads 44, 46 respectively of the cell phone. Cranking the flywheel with the manual crank 56 and crank handle 54 will then generate the electricity needed to directly charge or recharge cell phones in any environment or location.

While the foregoing description has focused on cell phones, the invention obviously may be applied to satellite phones or other portable communication devices that operate on batteries, charged capacitors, or equivalent storage components, which need and can be supplied with self generated operating electric current or periodic recharging of the storage components, in accordance with the invention.

The invention has been described in terms of its functional principles and several illustrative embodiments. Many variations or modifications in the illustrative embodiments will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it should be understood that all such variations and modifications are intended to be covered by the ensuing claims as well as all equivalents thereof. 

1. A hand-held energy transfer device comprising: a flywheel connected to a shaft, said shaft connected to a manually rotatable handle by a clutch capable of coupling and decoupling said flywheel from said handle, and a second shaft connected to said flywheel.
 2. A method for imparting rotary motion to an output shaft comprising: coupling said output shaft to a flywheel, coupling an input shaft to said flywheel by a clutch, manually rotating said input shaft with an attached handle while it is coupled to said flywheel until the flywheel achieves a desired speed, and decoupling the input shaft from the flywheel, whereby the energy of the flywheel is freely transferred to the output shaft. 